The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has conducted research finding that the overwhelming majority of a local authority’s population will not engage with planning
According to the analysis, just 0.56% of the population within a local authority will participate in local plan consultations.
The RTPI warn that this low interest could be detrimental to trust in planning reform.
Most people are not participating in their area’s future
These consultations regard more than homes in local areas, but also affect high streets, schools, parks, roads, and railway stations. The RTPI therefore says that planning authorities need to do more to reach out to their populations, meaning early and clear communication, and making an effort to go beyond those that already get involved.
Previous research from the RTPI further supports this, finding that 33% of the British public does not know how to get involved in the planning process, and 39% did not feel their participation would make a difference. Furthermore, the same research found that just 7% of the public had previously gotten involved in the planning system.
Simon Creer, director of communications and engagement at the RTPI, said: “Planning, no matter where it is done, relies on proper communications and consultation. The public expect their voices to be heard. But there is an emerging feeling that planning is something that is done to people, not with them.
“There is a real risk that changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, as well as the additional layer of spatial development strategies, will add to this. The communities being consulted will be larger, the decisions more opaque and further away. Many people may not even be aware of which combined authority they are in, let alone be motivated enough to engage with planning at that level.
“Taken all together, we can see a system that will require more engagement, more communication and clearer explanation of what the system does and does not do. If we are to bring the more positively inclined communities along with us and make this system work, then there is a large job of work to be done.”
Read the full report here.
The Planning Inspectorate is in a recruitment drive
Announced late last year in a (now private) video, the government said that applications for new inspectors would be driven up by a large recruitment drive in 2026.
As observed by the British Property Federation, devolution announcements last March made the need for an extra 3,000 planning officers over the next five years more stark, especially with a government target of 1.5m new homes.
At the time, Melanie Leech CBE, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “The government has moved at pace in its first few months in office, especially on planning reform. This now needs to be matched by a clear long-term plan to maximise the real estate sector’s full economic, social and environmental potential.
“Planning reform remains fundamental to delivering the government’s agenda and must be matched by additional capacity to deliver this. An additional 3,000 planners need to be deployed across England to help unlock the full potential of the system changes. On top of this we need urgent action to provide extra resource to key bodies like the Building Safety Regulator, where delays are currently holding back the delivery and occupation of thousands of homes across the country for up to a year.
“We also invite the government to work with us to tackle further regulatory barriers and to address current viability challenges. With this partnership, our plan will help secure the future of our high streets, help to deliver new homes of all tenures, and could generate 25% of the UK’s future clean energy needs.”
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